MLB.com's Carrie Muskat has been covering Major League Baseball since 1981 and is the author of "Banks to Sandberg to Grace: Five Decades of Love and Frustration with the Cubs." You can follow her on Twitter @CarrieMuskat. Here, she blogs about the Cubs.

9/21 Lou defends GM Hendry

Cubs general manager Jim Hendry has been under fire for originally signing mercurial outfielder Milton Bradley to a three-year $30 million deal this offseason. Bradley was suspended on Sunday for the final 15 games of the season.

“You try things,” Lou Piniella said, “and you don’t do things because you don’t think they’re going to work. You do your homework. Do they workout all the time? I don’t think anybody’s a miracle man and things can work out all the time.

“In this business here, when things don’t work, somebody is going to take some heat,” Piniella said. “It’s unfortunate. The amazing thing is when things don’t work, you take more heat, and when they work, you don’t get as much credit.

“This guy is the same one who put together a team that won 97 ballgames and he did a [heck] of a job.”

– Carrie Muskat

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I’m sorry, Lou, but Jim Hendry made some very bad decisions this year. First, he doesn’t re-sign Kerry Wood because he wants Carlos Marmol to be the closer. So the Cubs go out and Kevin Gregg…Lou names him the closer. What happened to Marmol? I personally think that the World Baseball Classic hurt Marmol earlier this season. He was shaky in the first half, but he got noticeably better in the second half and won the job that he should have had all along. Second, Hendry tries to trade DeRosa as part of a three-way trade to land Jake Peavy. That deal doesn’t happen, but DeRo is later traded to the Indians for two pitchers that don’t even make an impact in 2009 for the Cubs. I don’t know how Mark interpreted the trade, but I thought it was a slap in the face to a guy who played his heart out for us in 2 seasons. DeRo reportedly had a heart problem in early 2008, but I personally think he was the heart of the team for us. And this is how Hendry rewards him? Inexcusable. Finally, signing Milton Bradley who carries more baggage than O’Hare was the creme de la creme of bad Hendry moves. Hendry’s admiration for Bradley was a bit like Drew Barrymore’s admiration for Tom Green. You looked at them and asked yourself, “What does he see in him?”

I don’t know what Ricketts plans to do, but it is not uncommon to see new ownerships bring in their own man for GM. Ricketts has said that he envisions the Cubs being modeled after the Red Sox. And if that’s the case then Hendry has to go because he’s no Theo Epstein.

I agree completely cubswin2010!! I was always willing to cut Lou some slack for managing to win with the team HENDRY ASSEMBLED over the years but as soon as he defends Hendry??? Well he can pack his bags along with Hendry. I think they both have “tired” and “inept” written all over them. And since when does a GM have to be a “miracle man” to understand what Bradley brings to a team…YOU DON’T SIGN MILTON BRADLEY TO A 3 YEAR 30 MILLION DOLLAR CONTRACT…that’s just insane…

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